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THEATRE: Thriving on the challenge of playing women hard to like
It's just four short years since Hayley Atwell graduated – years during which she's certainly made her mark.
She's starred alongside Keira Knightly in The Duchess, playing the character of Bess Foster, the Duchess' best friend. She also played Julia Flyte in the new film version of Brideshead Revisited.
And she's currently filming a TV series remake of The Prisoner, alongside James Caviezel and Sir Ian McKellen which is due for release next year.
But for the moment Hayley's enjoying the warm glow of her West End debut in the acclaimed revival of Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge starring alongside Ken Stott and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.
It's a production which tours to Brighton's Theatre Royal from Tuesday until to Saturday, May 23.
As she says, it has all happened very quickly for her: "I haven't stopped!"
Hayley puts it down to hard work and passion, plus a great deal of support from those around her.
"The Duchess was magic. You realise with a film how much you are in the hands of the director and the editor. The experience of doing it was incredibly different to the outcome.
"It's odd watching the finished piece. It's a question of relinquishing that control that you have in the theatre."
Hayley was in the fortunate position of being offered her part in The Duchess without having to audition. She'd worked with Saul Dibb, the director, for her first job in TV and he wanted her back.
"The film was the incredible story of the life of Georgiana that has not been told before. It took a while for the definitive book to come along, and then the film. It was a huge success."
In it she played Bess, the third party in the Duchess' very curious marriage; in Brideshead she played the similarly-questionable Julia: "I find characters that are not easily likable a bit more of a challenge!"
Challenging too is her role in A View From The Bridge.
Dockworker Eddie Carbone (Ken Stott) has made a good life for himself and his wife Beatrice (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and niece Catherine (Hayley) in 1950s Brooklyn.
As a former immigrant himself, Eddie is happy to house and protect his wife's Italian cousins who arrive illegally in pursuit of the American Dream. What Eddie doesn't know is that this act of kindness will have a shattering effect on his whole life and on the lives of those he loves.
"I play the niece who is an orphan and has been brought up by her aunt and uncle," Hayley explains.
"She is not related directly to Eddie and he dotes on her. She is a great love for him.
"They have a very special connection and relationship. But she hits puberty and wants to live her own life, which is something he can't deal with."
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Weather for Chichester
Tuesday 14 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 9 C
Wind Speed: 20 mph
Wind direction: North west
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Temperature: 4 C to 10 C
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